The ninth-grade
students in three Marion County schools who completed activities
of the 2005-06 South Shore Marion County Youth Leadership Team
were honored with a graduation reception at the Yellville-Summit
School May 16.

Renee Myers,
co-chair of the adult advisory board to the youth team, said
a highlight of this year’s program was the Ropes Course
at the C.A. Vines Arkansas 4-H Center near Little Rock. The director
focuses on the skills of teamwork, communication, problem solving,
responsibility, leadership, and cooperation. “We feel it
is important that the students from the three schools learn to
work together as a team. As adults, they will need to work across
community lines.”

Leadership
team scholarships were presented to one student from each school’s
2003 youth leadership group, now graduating. Recipients were:
Westley, Bruno-Pyatt; Troy, Flippin; and Alicia, Yellville-Summit.

Students reported
on the year’s monthly sessions and their community service
projects to guests attending, including their adult advisory
board members, family members and sponsors. Monthly sessions
dealt with leadership skills, communications, teamwork, goal
setting, decision making and civic responsibility. Several sessions
are held away from the schools at area businesses, and students
take a State Capitol tour in Little Rock.

Northern Arkansas
Telephone Company (NATCO) is the principal sponsor through its
charitable organization, the South Shore Foundation. Additional
sponsors are the three participating schools, Entergy, and Marion
County Cooperative Extension Service. Contributors to events
throughout the year also include Everette and Cathy Long, Janell
Kirkwood, Arvest Bank, Bank of the Ozarks, First Federal Bank,
Brooks-Jeffrey Marketing, Flippin Wal-Mart Supercenter, Gaston’s
White River Resort, Harps and Ranger Boats.

Casey Jensen
and Justin Hurst of Yellville-Summit school entertained at the
event with selections of guitar music.

Students on
the 2005-06 graduation team are: Liz, Johnny, Christian, Curtis,
Tia, Ashley, Flora, all from the Bruno-Pyatt High School; Helen,
Clay, Heather, and Silvia, all from Flippin High School; and
Tyler, Danielle, Jesse, Debbie, Mikala, Michelle, and Mitchell,
all of Yellville-Summit High School.

To be eligible
for the South Shore - Marion County Youth Leadership Team for
the next school year, eighth-grade students should apply by June
15. An online application can be found at the South Shore Web
site, www.southshore.com/mcyjoin.htm,
or students and their families may contact Renee Myers at the
Marion County Cooperative Extension Service at 449-6349.

To contact
the South Shore Foundation in Flippin, call 1-800-775-6682. The
11-member South Shore Foundation Board of Directors meets quarterly
and considers grant applications relating to the foundation’s
goals of educational advancement, environmental preservation,
and economic development of the south shore region, which includes
communities located on or near the south shore of Bull Shoals
Lake.